The Bird of Spring
by TheGreatLemonFudge
Summary: Harutori Ren has her life planned: To live a long if boring life with her brother, make some money and maybe get friends. Exactly in that order. So when she decides Konoha is going to be the place where she fulfills all her dreams, she forgets one big thing - Fate is a vindictive bitch and nobody can live ordinary. M for later Chapters. OC-story. Canon-divergent AU.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

* * *

 _FROM A LETTER, WRITER UNKNOWN_

 _To the one who has crossed death once more,_

 _By the time you read this letter, you will have questions that need answers and I will do my best to explain them all. I believe I have found the solution, I believe I am not wrong, this time. Needless to say you will have all the time you need to understand and hopefully accept my decisions and reasoning. Mistake will be made and pain will repeat, however in the end I perish in the thought of a time of peace and rest._

 _Hope is not far from those who need it most._

 _Everything started on a night the brightest stars began to fall …_

XXX

The Third Hokage of Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen had – to the surprise of many – a simple life. Of course, it could be debated that simplicity is somewhat relative and one really should not consider the leadership of a hidden military base as just _simple_ ; but after years of war, betrayal and deaths of loved ones, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt this year so far, had been relatively a dull one. Meaning he enjoyed every minute of it.

There were no foreign invaders trying to throw bombs into the Hokage tower, no kidnapping attemptsof Bloodline babies, and certainly no large chakra monsters trampling his beloved village into a pile of broken wood pieces. All Sarutobi did every day was handling some troublesome affairs – such as mitigating agitated clans and civilian matters – and some more troublesome stuff – like putting his old teammate Danzo in his place; something Sarutobi was aware he was failing, but he did it anyway – and some more important and meaningless things as placating the Daimyo's whims and woes.

This day, it was not different. Sarutobi had finished his annual budget reports to the High Court of Fire Country and was just about to start to give out lucrative missions to Konoha's finest. But life as always, was as volatile as a popping flower, and thus lead to events that nobody had expected.

Sarutobi observed the girl obediently sitting in front of him with a pensive gaze. She had white hair that came to her shoulders with some red string braids and had bright amber eyes. Her Kimono was by no means expensive or from high quality; but it was clean enough to suggest that she didn't sleep on streets. The girl was carrying a worn shamisen, a three-stringed lute that once must have been pure white – Sarutobi noticed the girl's hands, the round and well-trimmed finger tips hardened, but fingers long and delicate. They were not the killing hands of a shinobi, but an experienced musician.

The girl who seemed to be oblivious of the old man's silent observations, let out a small sigh after tasting the tea he had offered. He didn't brew it himself, of course, it had been always his late wife Biwako who made the tea and now it was a part of his life that had been numbed after her death. However, from the light blush of happiness he could see on the girl's face, it seemed his secretary had done an adequate job.

She was seventeen, she had said, old enough to be considered an adult in most countries and certainly older than Genin kunoichis, who received their first Hitai-ate at the age of twelve to thirteen, still Sarutobi couldn't help but think of her as a girl instead of a woman; she somehow reminded him of his eldest, now gone, daughter. It also could be because she was a civilian, weak and fragile in ways a life-long shinobi like him could never comprehend.

Not to mention she stood in strong contrast to her younger brother who was nothing but shinobi.

"Rengyou and Kimimaro, you said?" He asked and it was the girl who answered. The boy, who could not be more than thirteen, was staring at him with red-rimmed emerald eyes, his body language taut and alert.

"Hai, Hokage-sama and please call me Ren. Our parents died in Asatsuyu no Kuni. They were victims of the civil war."

The Hokage had received reports and wild messages when it happened; the Land of Morning Dew had been a strong country that had recently gained a lot of land and spoils of war after they came out victorious from years long violent hostility between neighboring countries. Civil war that practically eradicated the royal family and left the country in ashes and dust was certainly not something anyone could have predicted. The girl continued with a sad, but resigned expression on her face.

"Our mother was a descendant of the Kaguya clan and Kimimaro was taught the art of our Bloodline Limit; since I was not suited for the life of a warrior, I honed my skills in instruments. Although I have to admit, people usually prefer to listen to stories I've gathered all around the countries instead of love songs and poems."

Sarutobi thought about it. Three years of travelling and a story-teller no less. It was something Jiraiya would do although he doubted the girl would be as efficient in collecting information as his insufferable student. It did intrigue him though, and his mind silently contemplated all the uses the girl could be for the village.

If he decided to grant the white haired siblings asylum, that was.

Because the reason why the Hokage had this meeting with two foreign teenagers in the first place was the fact they had come to Konoha for permanent stay. If they had been civilians he would not have bothered. Civilian in the hidden village came and went; mostly they were led by the caravan to make trades and visits. Although Konoha had by no means loose policies regarding foreign visitors, having Doujutsu users and well-bred trackers did have its advantages. Enemies and spies disguised as simple civilians rarely made it through the front gate, and civilians who applied for citizenship were dealt by the civil administration.

No, if it had been just the girl with her shamisen, Sarutobi certainly would not have bothered with meeting her. The problem that rose to demand caution was solely the fault of the younger brother.

He did, after all, alert the ANBU with his burst of hostile chakra and proceeded to fight them off – both sides without actual injuries, the Hokage added in his mind. Even with his strong Bloodline Limit that the child had managed to stand his ground with full trained assassins was remarkable if not worrisome; Had it been any other shinobi he would have sent the boy to the T&I department without a second thought. But the potential the young one had, not to mention his actual readiness to join the Konoha shinobi forces …

Sarutobi was inclined to forget the small struggle they had, considering Kimimaro had only fought back when an ANBU member had approached his sister. Inoichi who had been called to verify the new comer's statement, did not find any other reasons that could lead to other troubles. Kimimaro certainly reminded the old Kage of another prodigy, just as bright and loyal but chosen to live a horrible fate …

The Hokage closed his eyes to push his thoughts of the tragedy that had occurred 1 year ago and looked straight into the white haired shinobi's eyes.

"Why not Cloud? If I remember correctly, Kumogakure had formed an alliance with your country didn't they? They would have welcomed you with opened arms." It was obvious that with their Bloodline Limit they would not have been able to go to Water Country, Kaguya was after all one of the clan that had been wiped out in the mess of the Bloodline purge in Kiri. However, it was also a known fact that Kumo held no such prejudice – in fact, they had no shame in admitting they would go as far as stealing children to gain more Kekkai Genkai users. Sarutobi held no illusions when objectifying the situation; there were no advantages to choose Konoha over Kumo. Not for foreigners anyway.

It was once again the girl who answered his question.

"The thought did cross us, Hokage-sama, I won't lie. However, I have no acquaintance in Kumo and couldn't be sure how they would treat us…", Ren ended with hesitation. Then, she met the old Kage's eyes and said with a firmer tone, "I know that Kimimaro is very strong for his twelve years of age and I do realize he will be regarded as a valuable asset if not for his Bloodline Limit then for his skills alone, but I had hoped … My shishou was an Uzumaki, one of the last survivors of Whirlpool and he told me Konoha would not treat my brother nor me like simple breeding stock."

If Sarutobi was surprised of the girl's blunt words he did not show it. Instead he raised an eyebrow, showing interest in his wrinkled eyes.

"An Uzumaki? Are you certain?"

The girl seemed to be expecting this question as she handed him a talisman without further explanation.

For what is was worth, Sarutobi immediately realized it as something the Uzumaki main branch used for identification, he had seen it in the hands of Mito-sama, the wife of the Shodaime, and later Tsunade who had buried it within the grave of her younger brother Nawaki. The intricate pattern that formed the chakra path was unmistakable. He wondered who the man could be but neither the girl nor the boy seemed to know his first name, and was informed he had already died two years ago. It was a shame really, what had become of one of the first alliances of Konoha. Sarutobi decided to grief over it later and asked instead the more relevant question.

"What did he teach you, child?"

"He taught me a lot of things," the girl answered with a humble bow, "But he did teach me the Uzumaki sealing, if that's what you are asking. I can't create full seals that involves enormous chakra movement because my body is simply not made to push out much chakra, but I know enough of the theories. If you want, I am ready to share it … if my knowledge can be of any help, that is."

Sarutobi was silent. With his pipe in his hand he took a long drag, letting the smoke fill his lungs. He was aware of the gift he was being presented and couldn't help but being inclined to take it. After the Uchiha Massacre Konoha had suffered, not only morally but literally in its forces and a prodigy with Bloodline Limit was certainly a welcomed plus. The girl, too, with her soft spoken voice and her loyalty to her brother seemed to be a good addition to Konoha. He was certain she would do well with his people. Knowledge of sealing, of course, was also something he could not neglect.

The old Kage regarded the two children in front of him with apprehensive eyes. He felt he was missing something but couldn't point it out. It was more an instinct he had developed over the years than precise deduction. It also told him these two were not a threat.

There was only one thing he could do in such situation, ignoring the whisper that he could not let other villages get their hands on these two.

"I will grant you temporary stay. You can apply for citizenship after 6 months; I understand you never had alliance to any other Hidden Villages?" He asked directed to the boy and got an affirmative answer. Shinobi with power who had no alliance at all was rare, but given the circumstances understandable. The Hokage continued with a nod.

"Then, you will need to attend the academy for a minimum of 6 months before you will be able to join the forces. I will provide you a temporary stay in one of the shinobi apartment, but I cannot promise you that you will receive living support, at least not immediately. Orphan allowances are only meant for citizen under fifteen…"

"Oh," Ren said with wide eyes as if surprised, then gave the old man a smile, "We don't need financial support, Hokage-sama. When I failed to make seals, my shishou taught me the art of chakra carving instead. I make mostly small things like good-luck charms or protection _ohuda_ , and they rather sell well. I thought, that maybe I could open a shop? If you could connect me to a realtor that would be enough. I can certainly support myself and my little brother, Hokage-sama, you don't need to worry."

 _A chakra carver?_ The old shinobi thought with interest. Someone like that was rare, especially nowadays, when most art of chakra carving was forgotten. The last true one he'd seen had died fifty years ago, an old monk who had never left his temple. Although Ren had said it like it was nothing of importance - and she could be right as she was certainly too young to be very skilled- the Hokage couldn't help but watch her in new light.

The sister of a Kekkai Genkai user, a bard, a fortune seller, a chakra carver.

Only seventeen and the girl was more interesting than many the old Hokage had met. That was an astounding feat itself, indeed.

They discussed more details of their now arranged stay and the two siblings ended up with someone from the Genin Corps to show them around the village. After they filled the necessary paper work – which would be thoroughly combed through – the village of Leaf gained two permanent members: Harutori Rengyou and her younger brother Harutori Kimimaro.

"Well then," the old Hokage said with a soft smile, "welcome to Konoha."

Harutori Ren beamed and even the stoic brother let a shimmer of relief shine through his eyes.

When Sarutobi Hiruzen met with their gold and green, he knew that his choice would mean something one day, but right now he felt sated and more importantly –

He felt no remorse.

XXX

A brilliant morning had followed the night and I opened the window to let the fragrant breeze flow in. I breathed in deep, it was so different to what I was used to, it smelled like moist trees and herbs so fresh and alive.

"Ohayou!" I greeted my neighbors who were already leaving the house to work. A little girl waved back while her father gave me a polite nod with a smile. I beamed right back, so happy I had neighbors and a house. Oh, what a beautiful house it was.

After the Hokage gave us permission to stay, Kimimaro and I were escorted by a ninja-san, who not only gave us a tour of the village – making sure we knew the location of hospital, market and at my request the academy – but also she happened to be married to a civilian realtor, who was happy to introduce us to a small workshop in the main street. Belonged to an old couple who decided to leave the village to join their daughter's family, he said, and the price they offered was fairly reasonable. Not that I would have minded to pay a little more, but I wanted to save up for our house – and we needed to live in a house, just us two, alone.

Kimimaro insisted he _could_ live in a shinobi apartment, which for him meant he absolutely abhorred the idea. Shinobi apartments were, well, cheap and we could technically apply for one if Kimimaro made Genin, but I knew my little brother would be constantly on edge having so many ninjas moving and sleeping around him. Understandable really, the last time he went visiting a Hidden Village he ended up killing every one with forehead protector after he spent years in captivity by his own clan. It was not something we liked to talk about.

So, we decided to buy a house. I realized that Konoha real estate was nothing I'd seen before; it had laws about shinobi status, clan politics, military plants, diverse insurances and such. I understood we wouldn't get a house in the clan districts or near military bases or the shinobi area (where mostly relatives of clanless ninjas lived in protection); and even an insurance in case of collateral damage by Fire Jutsu made sense;

But why was there insurance for damage by reincarnated dead people?

Did something like that truly happen around here?

Watanabe-san, our realtor ensured us it was just standard procedure and told us to simply ignore it, but somehow I got nightmares about zombies eating my herb garden – which I didn't even have yet– and in the end I ended up for two additional insurances: zombie terror and crushed by giant summons. Kimimaro thought it was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard.

The house Watanabe-san found us was not great but passable state; it was an ordinary second-floor house with three bedrooms and a small yard outside. We decided to make the extra bedroom our combined study, mostly because our bedrooms were so small we couldn't really fit anything else but beds in there. I had the feeling that it used to be a bigger house, but now we were sharing it with another family just walls separating us. They were civilians though and Kimimaro didn't feel threatened, so everything was fine. I already went and said my hellos and now I had neighbors to greet whenever we met outside.

Kimimaro already went and bought some paints and we spent the second and third day of our arrival with renovating. Watanabe-san and his wife gave us some pointers and I ended up paying for two additional Genin who could help us; members of Genin corps in Konoha apparently were well-versed in diverse chores and were regarded as a mixture of ninja and laborers with many skills.

They helped with the renovation of my workshop as well – and did it with proficiency and perfection I could have only hoped for - so at Day 4, I felt gleeful to wake up to my life in Konoha.

My brother would start the ninja academy next week, so we could have an extra weekend just the two of us. I wanted to buy him new sandals and some pointy stuff I'd seen other ninja-wannabes flaunt about, but Kimimaro made a bone dagger right on the spot and I somehow knew I'd lost an argument without the chance to debate. He let me buy him the sandals though and I felt much better.

"You need to save up, Aneue," said my ever polite brother, wiggling his toes in his brand new Konoha style ninja sandals, "We already spent everything you won at Tanzaku on the house and shop."

When I told the Hokage he didn't have to worry about our finances, I meant it.

The last town we visited before Konoha was none other than the infamous Tanzaku-gai and I had somehow managed to wipe the floor with hard-core players.

After collecting our winnings Kimimaro dragged me away from gambling again so I never got to find out whether it was beginner's luck or my destined vocation, but we left the town richer than ever. I also wasn't lying when I told the Hokage my good-luck charms sold really well, after that stint in Tanzaku people practically _cornered_ me to buy my products.

While it didn't cost me to make those chakra-infused accessories, because mostly I used sea-shells, stones or sometimes wood, it did strain my chakra muscles –or the chakra path in my body to be precise- so I was limited to 10 or so pieces a day.

Kimimaro had offered to help, of course. But although he could make most of the normal seals, he never managed to carve the charms right. It didn't even give the faint chakra vibration my talismans always had.

Chakra carving didn't take a lot of chakra to make, but you needed perfect chakra control and the adequate chakra nature. My shishou told me because of my illness, my chakra had a very calm flow, making it much easier for me to carve chakra lines on objects and infuse them with the usually volatile energy.

Fuinjutsu was like its name; it _sealed_ the chakra into objects, holding the maker's chakra in alternate dimensional space until activated with another chakra burst. Chakra carving was more like needle and string, my chakra the needle and the chakra in the surrounding the string and followed the path my needle already carved in. When my chakra vanished and the very miniscule amount of foreign chakra stayed of the surface of the object, my job was done. Different from sealing, my chakra carved things didn't need additional chakra to work so civilians could use it too. On the other hand, there was no way I could ever make a huge explosive thing out of my skills, foreign chakra was just too wild for that and would break the object before even attaching itself.

And there was the problem of me having very limited chakra and therefore not able to make more than a dozen a day, by bigger things it sometimes took me days.

"Well, if we need more money I could always work part-time at restaurants," I said in a thought, but was met with a hard stare from my brother. For a twelve-year-old he was certainly much too serious.

"Aneue, you are as weak as a sea-monkey. Stop overworking yourself."

"Hey!" I cried out indignantly, "That's not fair!"

I got that in Kimimaro's eyes, who had seen many power hungry, savage bastards who could do horrible things with their power, I, with my skinny figure and small chakra defect must rank extra low … but a sea-monkey? _A sea-monkey_? That was when I drew a line.

"You may be right that I'm not very strong and I will never be a ninja, but I am certainly as strong as any average civilian woman and I most certainly am capable of doing part-time jobs – "

"Just a day ago you tripped and broke a finger," my brother said in his deadpan voice.

I huffed loudly crossed my arms. "Yes, maybe, but it mended right back, Kimimaro. You are not the only one who profits from our Bloodline Limit."

"You tripped over your own foot and broke a finger."

… Well, I really didn't want to say anything to that.

I looked away and met with the stares of some ninja-sans shamelessly eavesdropping and obviously laughing at my expense. I blushed furiously and grabbed my brother's hand.

"Come on, let's find our new favorite take-out place or I'll make you dance the next time I play my shamisen."

"…"

Kimimaro followed without a sound. He was a wonderful dancer and he resented that he knew it too. Ah, manly pride. Kimimaro could be so adorably weird sometimes.

Our new favorite take-out place was what I named the ramen stand on the Second Market Street. The owner, Teuchi-san, was a very gentle man and made one of the best noodles I'd ever tasted. His daughter Ayame-san was only a year or two older than me, so we hit it right off. Not to mention she helped to get an update on Konoha's general gossips.

Gossips were important even if they were not always true; after all, there was always a reason why some stories were told from mouth to mouth faster and nastier than others. Ayame-san had actually invited me to come by and I wanted to introduce them to Kimimaro. Kimimaro, whose social skill was tilting to negative, always needed a little push, but I knew he didn't mind human interaction in general. He just wasn't used to it.

"Ayame-san!" I called out lifting the noren of Ichiraku-ramen, and the brown haired woman who had been serving raised her head. "Oh, Ren-san! Welcome! Sit, sit, I'll be right there!"

Kimimaro and I took a sit in front of Teuchi-san, who greeted me with a warm smile. Kimimaro bowed back and I introduced them both to each other, not holding back on the I'm-big-sister-pride. I knew when I made my baby brother blush in embarrassment I did something right.

There were two others in the ramen stand, the man just next to me had a long scar over his nose, the other was wearing a dark colored bandana over his pale blue hair. _Shinobi_ , my chakra sensing guts told me, which didn't mean anything since my eyes could see the Hitai-ate on their foreheads just fine. I wondered what rank they were, though. The green vest with the Uzumaki symbol was given when the ninja reached chuunin rank, I was told. So obviously those two were somewhere between chuunin and jounin … Was shinobi system truly that simple? How did they know who held seniority? By counting scars?

I must have stared more intently than I'd wanted, the man with the scar scratched his cheek with a pleasant smile. He didn't want to scare me off, I had noticed, the comforting chakra he was emitting was rather telling. First I felt confused, since I didn't quite understand why the man was trying to look harmless as possible. Most people of his profession did the exact opposite as if their life depended upon it and I was used to big men using awful intimidation techniques. Then, something clicked in my mind. Friendly Konoha-nin, trying to look friendly to delicate-civilian-girl. Were civilian residents of Konoha rather resentful to their more lethal neighbors? But why? The Konoha-nin were there to protect them, weren't they?

But then, of course, Uchiha Itachi and the massacre. Even I'd heard of it, something so horrible and unbelievable gossipers just wished it'd be true. Considering that, the boy had killed not only the ninja of his clan but also the civilians who shared blood, it made sense that people were more prone to being cautious.

"You're not from around here, are you? Haven't seen you before." The man with the scar started a conversation and I gave him a nod with a smile.

"My brother and I, we just moved here. It's our fourth day."

At that the man widened his eyes. "Well, that's really recent. Where are you from?"

"Asatsuyu," I answered truthfully and added to avoid further interrogations, "Hokage-sama was very kind and offered us asylum."

"Oh, that's…that's good," the man nodded, and I could see how much faith the man had in his Hokage as I felt his chakra spike of suspicion virtually fade at the mention of the old, wise, shinobi. He unconsciously rubbed his neck and asked in a more cheerful tone, "So? How do you like Konoha so far?"

I told him about the Genin corps who helped us so much and Watanabe-san – apparently also handling a majority of shinobi apartments as well – and the fact I still wasn't sure how to address the huge Hokage face mountains, I'd rather be not rude.

"We call them Hokage-rocks, I think," Iruka, that was the man's name, contemplated out loud, although Ayame came by and added, "Well, I call them Hokage-mountain, and I've heard Hokage-stone-faces somewhere before. And I'm sure some kids just call them the-Big-Stony-Heads."

Iruka seemed to be torn from being troubled and resigned by that last remark.

"Kids and their big mouths, really," the other man, who had introduced himself as Mizuki, scoffed with a 'what-can-you-do' gesture. "The younger they are the rowdier. I can't wait until my batch of brats graduate."

I thought about the comment for a second confused, then came the light-bulb moment. He was too young to have a 'batch of children' ready to graduate and judging by his choice of words he was spending a lot of his time with young kids…

"Oh! You both are teachers at ninja academy, aren't you?", I exclaimed and folded my hands on my knees and bowed to the surprise of the two shinobi, "Kimimaro will attend your school too, starting next week! Please take care of him!"

"… He will?" asked Iruka bewildered, even Mizuki looked somewhat baffled. "Uhm, may I ask what grade? I'm in charge of the younger students, but I didn't get any notifications about a new transfer student …"

"Neither did I," added the pale haired man, now looking pensive. I was more distracted absorbing all the information the men had given me. Well, it wasn't much, but still.

"The Hokage-sama has decided to put him in the graduating year. He said Kimimaro is quite gifted, you see," I said giving them the impression of oblivious-civilian-family-member. It wasn't very far from the truth either, since I would probably be the last person to know average from good ninja-ness. My very distorted and defect chakra system could pick up hints of chakra people used to show emotions; it was more like reading the body language only I sensed their chakra. It didn't mean I could actually gauge their fighting capacity or even be aware of their whereabouts meters apart.

Nope, it was more like a lie detector, something that worked only if you were close enough. The only reason why I knew Kimimaro was very good at the shinobi-stuff was because people who fought him were sending out chakra-emotions in massive waves telling me they were afraid of him. He did beat them up black and blue before, so there was a possibility their opinion was biased. Also it could be his Bloodline Limit, which could look quite disturbing I'd admit, but then I had it too, only much, much slower and therefore not battle-adequate.

I wondered if I should warn the both ninja teachers about my brother's and my chakra infused body disfigurement. One look at my brother, I decided to keep silent for now. They would find out soon enough.

"Iruka-san, may I ask about the subjects Kimimaro will be learning? I asked around, but most of them told me it varies time to time."

Iruka seemed to think about it for a moment, probably reminiscing about his own pre-graduation, and stuff he must have picked up from spending time at teacher's lounge. "Well, if I remember correctly the only class with space for a new student in that year would be class C … Honda Shouichi-sensei, I think. He teaches Advanced Tactics and Basic Trap Setting. The Fundamental Three are Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, though. You won't be able to pass the graduation exam, if you fail in any of these three." The last sentence was more likely directed to my brother instead of me, which Kimimaro had noticed. But he didn't answer – I wondered briefly if I had deprived him of a chance of small-talk so many times that he basically didn't feel the need to talk to strangers at all or if this was simply a sign of his trust in my better judgement – and Iruka seemed to take it as an indication to continue. "I guess you will need to take classes in History of Fire Country, or you can take a test to make up for it. There is also geography, statistics and the matter of Basic Hand Sign, Konoha-nin are known for their extensive use of silent communication after all …"

It didn't take us long to realize Iruka was made for his profession. He didn't just stop at giving us the basics, but actually went through all the curriculum the academy offered, and why they were important in educational point of view; I had the feeling not many actually took the whys as serious as him. For most it would be the matter of just do it already, nothing to break brain cells for. I liked Iruka-sensei's passion, though. He taught children so they could survive to adulthood, not only because it was his job. He reminded me of my shishou. I wondered if I would ever see him again.

"Aneue, it's getting late."

We already had finished our bowl of delicious ramen – mine was miso with pork, Kimimaro's light shio – and indeed, it was getting late. The streets were lit by bright paper lanterns, flickering shadows dancing around people's feet. Ayame-san would have work to do and the ninja-men somewhere to go to. I gave a quiet nod to my brother and reached for my purse. "Before I forget, I brought a gift for you, Ayame-san," I said holding a blue, round stone in my hand. My brown haired friend took it with a surprised expression on her face. "It's a _kaiun omamori_. It's supposed to bring you good luck."

"Wow. Did you make it yourself?" Ayame asked, now admiring the carved lines on the flat surface. It had specific kanjis, runes and lines to connect them all. Iruka and Mizuki, too, seemed intrigued, although their skepticism was obvious. They had enough manners not to show it though.

"Some charms work better when sold, some however work only when gifted. This is for the kindness you showed to a stranger, Ayame-san. I'm grateful for your friendship." I bowed slightly, surprised but also pleased, when the brown haired woman bowed back. She gave me a happy smile. "I will cherish your gift, Ren-san. I'll hang it right here so every guest who visits us can share the good fortune."

I beamed at her, delight and satisfaction bubbling inside my chest. It felt good to be taken seriously, people usually thought I was scamming them. …Well, people outside Tanzaku-gai at least.

Ayame used the leather string I had weaved through the charm stone and hung it with a nail on the wall. It was quite the eye-catcher, to be frank.

"Wait a sec, did you use chakra to make this?" Mizuki, who had been watching the whole process with ill hidden doubt, suddenly asked, eyes filled with unreadable emotions. Iruka seemed to be surprised at his friend's abrupt outburst, then proceeded to inspect my work up close. He, too, must have sensed the weak chakra pulse through the stone as his eyes grew wider. I opened my mouth feeling obligated to explain when I felt the stares.

"I was taught the art of chakra carving by a seal master," I said fully aware my protective brother was lurking behind me with a defensive stance, "It's a quite useful skill to have. Mostly they were used for shrines and temples or to write protection ohuda for houses, but I've already seen some charm work around Konoha, too. Uzumaki Mito-sama's work, I think?."

"What? Sorry, but no way," Mizuki shook his head with a condescending smile, "the Shodaime's wife certainly did not do voodoo-stuff – "

Whatever the pale haired shinobi wanted to say was cut off, as a small bundle of energetic blonde came tackling into the ramen place.

"Ojisan! Quick, quick! Gimme miso ramen dattebayo!"

The little boy's face was covered in green and blue goo and his hand was holdinganother can full of orange paint. _Like a baby Kappa_ , I unconsciously thought and tried hard not to giggle, but apparently Iruka didn't share my amusement. He was all red and bursting out impressive, crackling angry-waves.

"Naruto! What have you done again, you little – "

"I-Iruka-sensei?!" the blond baby Kappa exclaimed loudly and unconsciously took some steps back – which was anything but a smart move. "ARGH!"

"…Oh my God."

We all watched in horror as the orange paint can was cut loose. It flew across the bar drawing a perfect arc, right on route to the boiling soup pot; we all stood in petrified stupor, absolutely convinced of the impending disaster –

Only it didn't happen.

The orange paint-can was miraculously stopped by the string of the fortune stone, serving as some kind of hook, the same one Ayame-san had hung up just two minutes ago.

Long silence followed, until some of us actually regained a working brain.

"… …"

"…What the…"

"I-Iruka-san! Grab it! Put it down! Quick!"

"Ah shit!"

The scarred ninja acted swiftly, carefully pulling the paint can off the fortune stone. When he got down and placed the metal can full of orange paint on the table, everybody at Ichiraku kept staring at me, the still bubbling soup pot and the fortune stone, in that order.

After a long silence, it was Iruka, who eventually spoke up.

"Uhm, Ren-san, where did you say your store was again …?"

* * *

 **A/N: About Sealing(Fuinjutsu) and Chakra Carving**

The main difference is with sealing you need to use chakra to _activate_ it (the ON and OFF button so to say), but charms made through chakra carving are always working (Like those cheap electronics without a Power Button). Ren cannot make big seals because in this verse you need the required chakra to write the seals in the first place (so it can't be simply multiplied by a printing machine) and Ren's condition disables her to pour out a lot of chakra from her body. Chakra carving on the other hand, doesn't take a lot of her own chakra as it works with the outside chakra in harmony, but because it works in harmony it can't make a lot of changes. They simply don't have enough power to blast through their original design. People in this verse have used it mostly for shrines, good luck charms, and protection wards.

I actually thought of the concept after reading Harry Potter books; I wondered if you could write Runes on a thing, pour your magic and use it without saying spells any more. That's kind of my fantasy kink I guess:-)

There were lots of technological things in Naruto-verse that wasn't explained and Naruto never bothered to delve into Fuinjutsu so…why not.

* _Ohuda_ (お札) are those rectangle charm papers with Chinese characters you see in Asian culture.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

* * *

Have you heard? There is a new fortune-teller in town!

What? Where?

The 2nd Market Street, they say! She's supposed to be really good, too! Should we go visit?

Yeah! Let's go!

… was the overall rumor that went around Konoha these days, Ayame-san said.

I wanted to groan and hide my face. I'd never intended to become known as a fortune-teller! What would shishou say? I don't even read palms! It's not like I can predict who will marry whom and how much money they are going to make, all I can do is carving some charms that will hold the bad spirits out and lead good elements in.

The whole possessed by omniscient ghost stuff?

I've never met a ghost in my life! … although I think technically one could make ghosts, as they must be mere imprints of chakra leak of souls when they are passing and with the right seal to hold the corporeal image I could… yeah. So not going there.

Kimimaro, my dear genius brother, apparently found this new sensation in Konoha extremely annoying. He left me to my own devices, himself going to hone his ninja skills. I was mostly left alone in my humble workshop. I had renovated it to make a small tea room and a display stand at front, spending the majority of my time telling young girls I couldn't make their prince charming love them with one swift hand motion. I sold them charms for attraction (aka Project Baby Skin: use chakra to make your skin smoother than ever), though.

…I mean I had to make a living, sole bread winner in the house and stuff, right?

I even condemned myself to do some fortune telling, which was nothing but pure bogus. I'd learned it from an old lady in Hot Springs, who had looked so believable with her full-set gear priest outfit, only to find out she had robbed me blind. She had been a scam artist who took advantage of me, but that didn't mean I got nothing out of the encounter. I'd learned a few tricks to make me look trustworthy like her, besides Kimimaro got my purse back eventually.

So, when people came to me demanding to know their future, I didn't say outright that I couldn't do anything like that, I resorted to cheap tricks like telling them things I had deduced by putting two and two together in a very mystical, all knowing way. It worked splendidly.

… If my shishou knew, he'd shove me over a cliff for tarnishing his art and name. Gods, I was a disgrace.

"Uhm… Harutori-san, uhm… Can you tell me about my future husband?" asked a pink haired girl shyly.

It made me wonder how old she was. Nine? Eight? Kunoichi-in-the-making, I was sure. Young ones like her you couldn't tell by their chakra signature, but it was easy enough to read from their hands. Although hers still looked soft and delicate, the small cuts and bruises were certainly from holding a sharp weapon.

"Please, call me Ren," I said with a smile, taking out my self-carved, overly done tarot cards. Gear up, was lesson number one the old lady in disguise had taught me after all. "Let's see what the spirits have to say about you."

It was adorable how she bristled to sit up straight; as if the spirits were giving her a test she had to pass with flying color or else. A zealous student, then. Leaning highly on her intellect instead of physical ability judging by the smoothness of her palms.

I opened the first deck of cards, lining them so both pink hair and her blond friend could see. I hummed. The blond one looked up at me with big sparkling eyes. "What? What is it Ren-san? Who's going to marry Sakura?"

"Well," I started, tilting my head slightly to the side, I'd never gotten the cards in this combination before. "Sakura-san, your family are probably merchants and you were not averse to the idea of becoming one, too. But then you had an encounter with shinobi that made you change your mind, correct?"

The pink haired girl's eyes went wide as saucers. "How-how did you know?!"

The blond girl, Ino was her name, nudged her shrieking friend's side playfully and stage-whispered, "Told ya! I told you she's good!"

I couldn't help but grin at both the girls' antics. I continued, pointing at the card of black birds flying above reed. "It says you are made for a very strong fate. Meaning you will need to overcome obstacles in your life, and some will try to tear you heart apart - but once you come up victorious, you will do great things and hopefully, good."

Sakura beamed at me, giggling with Ino. I knew that she only heard the word 'great' and 'strong', not really understanding the hardship I'd predicted. They were eight or nine years old girls after all. I decided to elaborate, tilting my head slightly to one side.

"It is hard path that lies in front of you, but you will not be alone. People will come to your aid, but you will need to learn to stand alone first. Learn everything, learn more, and your fate will come to you. Don't hesitate to look into a mirror, don't be afraid of your own reflection. The one you see in rippled water is the same you see in polished glass."

"Uhm…o-okay?" said Sakura tentatively, now looking somewhat struck. Her blonde friend was blinking, looking utterly confused. Cryptic futures were the best, because there was always some truth in them you couldn't find immediately. Or at least you could make them so ambiguous you had always some space to work it out.

When I kept my silence, Ino tugged on my sleeve with a childish whine in her face. "Ren-san, come on, you didn't tell us anything about Sakura's future father of child!"

"I-Ino!" shrieked Sakuar turning bright red, but didn't correct her – implying she also wanted to know but hadn't the courage to ask. I decided to lift the mood and took a more playful stance.

"Hm, do you really wish to know?"

"Yes!" Ino yelled her fists curled tightly, eyes blazing blue. I smiled. Love and money, the ultimate questions of young and old.

"I see numerous suitors," I gabbled, relying on my perception rather than hocus-pocus card reading now, "But for the love you truly wish to gain, you need to wait and have patience. This flower is beautiful but has no smell; to be acknowledged you need the butterfly to come to you at his own time. Once he sees, he will love. Not sooner."

I saw Sakura and Ino both gulping loudly. Sakura glimpsed at her friend for a moment before shyly asking, "So…my love will be reciprocated eventually?"

Having no idea what the answer should be, I was saved by Ino, cutting in. "Of course, Sakura! You just need to keep pushing and pushing and pushing 'til he loves you too!"

"Oooooh … you're right!"

…Which was of course not what I meant at all. Quite the opposite actually.

But the girls were already wrapped up in their own worlds of pink hearts and rainbows, I didn't dare to interrupt.

Soon after, I saw fire in the pink haired girl's eyes burning. Oh my God they are discussing strategical stalking kunoichi-style, and decided to erase the whole conversation in my head. Nope, never heard of anything, no plans involving entrapment, kidnapping and illegal love potions …

Gosh,I felt like a con artist taking advantage of impressionable minds...But I needed to suck it up, baby brother needed food on the table to make pointy bones.

The girls asked me more questions –if I could see into the future and tell them the schedule of the boy Sakura liked, which I vehemently declined; the pink haired teacher's pet took the rejection gracefully, murmuring something about getting access to the teachers' student files no problemo – then they left, each buying one of the attraction enhancing massage stones. …I needed strong tea.

I wondered once more what it was about love that made people so act obsessively. I loved my brother, I loved my shishou, but I'd never been curious about anyone else. Wasn't it enough to have family? I had read a lot of books from princesses marrying princes doing lovey-dovey stuff to girl meets man and sleeps with more; I didn't understand the sweet and bitter ache love was supposed to be. Maybe I never would.

Sipping on my cup of tea I enjoyed the silence in my workshop. It was only interrupted when I played some snippets of folk songs on my shamisen, a gift my shishou had given me before he left us.

"Excuse me, Ren-san? Are you busy?"

When I looked up at the familiar voice, I saw the brown haired woman who became my good friend.

I smiled to greet her. "Not at all, Ayame-san. Just having tea by myself. Do you want some?"

Ayame politely declined. "I'm afraid I have errands to run. In fact, if you are free right now I think you'd like to come with me, too."

"Really?" I asked, interested. "Where are we going?"

The brown haired civilian grinned mischievously and let out an innocent expression that wouldn't fool anyone. "Why, the ninja academy, of course! Take-out delivery to feed the starving teachers, and I wouldn't mind the help?" she added with a pleading tone, and I looked up surprised. The ninja academy? Really? It didn't take long to decide.

I felt playful and tried to give something like a firm, masculine nod.

"Of course, my lady. Delicate flowers like you shouldn't walk on the streets all alone. You never know when the next bandits will come to steal your well-guarded treasure."

Ayame snorted at my antics, "Yeah, 'cause there are a lot of bad men just waiting out there to rob poor old me of ramen."

"Ichiraku ramen," I corrected, now stepping in my shoes not able to hide my eagerness fully, "Ramen worth every gold."

"Aww, how sweet of you, Ren-san!" my friend cooed, barely holding her laughter. She waited until I had closed my shop, securing it with some seals, then we walked to Ichiraku's to grab the take-outs.

"They usually send a teacher or older students to take them," Ayame explained as she gave me five full packed bowls to carry, "but today I insisted I would do it for them." With that she winked and I knew she'd done it just for me.

Kimimaro had been attending the ninja school for three weeks now, but I never found the time to see how he was doing.

Well, scratch that.

I'd just never found a good excuse than being an overprotective mother hen to my five years younger brother. While Kimimaro never minded my fussing – secretively enjoying it even, after spending years in incarceration and emotional abuse by his clan – I knew I couldn't make all the social interaction for him. I asked him about his day at dinners, though.

He found most of things they learned in class boring and was fast to catch up the whole how to be a ninja Konoha-style business. He never talked about the people surrounding him every day, which made me worry.

What if the other children were making fun of him? Because of him being different (Bloodline Limit, white hair, being foreigner, weird big sister whatever)?

Distraught by my own thoughts, I didn't even realize we had been walking for a while. Unlike the civilian school, which was located near the village center out of convenience, the ninja academy was positioned more on the side. I noticed the woods and mountain forming some sort of fortress, providing the school building shelter and a hide-out place. The location made sense, if any stories I'd heard about the Shodaime Hokage were true.

Protect the children from wasteful deaths… that was a slogan I had no troubles to accept as my own.

Ayame led us inside the school, searching for the teacher's lounge on the first floor. We found it soon enough, and I smiled automatically when I met a familiar face. "Iruka-sensei! It's nice to see you again!"

The academy teacher with a scar on his nose, looked startled, blinking a few times.

"Ren-san? What – What are you doing here?"

I held out the take-out ramen bowls I'd been requested to deliver. He took it without thinking, now more confused than ever. I had to stifle a giggle that threatened to spill over my lips with my fingertips. Why was he blushing? "I'm helping Ayame-san out today. Being the delivery girl. So, how have you been, Iruka-sensei?"

"Oh," he started then spat out something akin to an apology, "I-I wanted to visit your store, Ren-san, I really did but – uhm…"

He seemed a little lost, to be honest.

I reckoned the academy probably was the last place he thought he would meet me; although my brother was a student, I was only a civilian after all.

"It's okay, Iruka-sensei, no offence taken," I offered, and added with a sly expression, "I've seen you time to time, you know. Orange-clad baby blond and you, chasing each other…"

"Oh my God," whimpered Iruka, face planted in his hands. I couldn't help myself and laughed. Naruto, who I'd met once or twice visiting Ichiraku, was definitely a unique little boy, very loud and very orange. I was not sure if this was some silly sentimental thing, but I somehow felt when it came to Konoha, the orange blob was a package deal.

I was certainly the only one who had to cover her mouth not to laugh at the red nosed Hokage head, the hair spikes colored with polka dots. But then, most people didn't have a little brother who could pierce others with pointy outgrown bones if feeling threatened. Compared to that, coloring stones didn't seem that much big a deal…

Speaking of people stabbing little brothers.

"Iruka-sensei, do you know where my brother could be? He must have still classes, but I thought maybe I could just… have a look?"

I gave him big pleading eyes, somehow feeling this would work. With Kimimaro and shishou it only gave me watering cornea, those stubborn men.

"Hm… Well, the first and second years already went home, and I think the older kids have Taijutsu classes in the afternoon. Wait here for second, let me check." He went in going over some schedule plan, while I gave Ayame a small hand wave, telling her I would go to see my brother. She waved me right back in acknowledgement, although she seemed busy talking to one of the teachers who was very interested in their conversation or Ayame in general.

Iruka came back not long after.

"Honda-sensei's class is at the training ground, it seems. If you want, I could take you there."

I nodded gratefully. "That would be great, thank you, sensei."

It didn't take us long to reach the training ground. It was just behind the school hidden by huge trees. Hashirama-trees, Iruka explained as we passed by, a specific breed only grown in Konoha. I wondered if they had anything to do with the fine chakra matrix that was woven all over the school buildings.

The training grounds were mostly just wide open spaces, each marked with numbers and some had scarecrows on one end. One class apparently were training to throw the spiky metal stars, and I noticed many of them actually failed to hit the target.

The boys were mostly sloppy, the girls didn't have enough power, it seemed. I felt my chest filling with pride, for I'd seen my brother kill a mosquito with a chopstick from twice the distance. But then, I always knew Kimimaro's problem wouldn't lie in lack of shinobi skills.

When we reached a big tree marked with the number 5, Iruka halted.

"Okay, they are supposed to be here. Let me just find…" the ninja next to me started, stopping midsentence. I turned around to see what made Iruka freeze.

"…Oh," was all I could say.

Because in the middle of the training ground surrounded by dark woods, stood my brother, all in his white haired glory, purposely stepping on a kid's hands and crushing them. His face was so void of emotions, without the blood stains drawing dotted patterns on his pants I would have never guessed his involvement.

This was bad. Bad, bad, bad.

The sensei with the scar seemed to have come to his senses faster than I expected, unfortunately.

"What - What the hell?! YOU! Step back, right now!"

Kimimaro looked up at Iruka's yelling with an almost bored expression on his face. Then, his eyes smoothly glided to the side, meeting my own.

Oh shit, he seemed to think and belatedly tried to bury the other boy into ground. The kid gurgled when dirt was mercilessly shoveled into his face.

…yeah, evidence removal was so not happening here.

I heard Iruka calling for Honda-sensei, frantically digging under the pile of unconscious students. When I saw a nearly incoherent man struggling to sit up, I couldn't help but facepalm with a sigh.

I could feel it in my fortune-telling bones. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **A/N** : Sorry it took me so long to post the second chapter. The whole Doc Manager-thing is just new to me and I keep forgetting to save my changes:(

I'm also trying to find out how to leave an extra line between the sentences(to make it easier to read)...no luck yet.

Please leave a review if you liked the story or find any mistakes(I'll try to change them as fast as I can, especially the grammar, English is not my first language.)


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

* * *

Kaguya – no, Harutori Kimimaro knew he'd made a mistake. He could hear his sister sigh, hiding her face with her palms. _Was she upset?_ he wondered. She'd been never truly angry with him before, except one time, when he was about to gut a little vagrant for trying to pickpocket what was his, but he'd known his older sibling had a soft spot for weaklings. She reasoned it with knowing what it felt like, to be weak and helpless. She also was the one who had introduced Kimimaro to other human emotions like mercy and compassion. He knew Aneue had plenty of that, too.

Kimimaro stared at his feet, stepping down from the back of his opponent he'd been crushing with his weight. He couldn't really find it in himself to feel sympathy for the whimpering idiot, though. The moron had tried to hit him with a shuriken after all.

Ren was already coming to his side. Eye brows furrowed, her amber colored eyes were assessing everything surrounding them.

"What happened? What did they do?" She finally asked and Kimimaro felt something like warmth tickling in his chest. She wasn't angry, and judging by her usual soft tone, she wasn't accusing him. One thing that the younger one always had admired and respected about his older sibling was her ability to find truth in every troublesome affair. Kimimaro let her invade his private space without another thought.

He felt her arm gently touching his shoulder, nudging him away from the scene in silence, but he didn't answer her question immediately. He was fairly sure he wasn't the one to blame… or was he?

It all started the first day he'd been introduced to his new class in academy.

To be honest, Kimimaro never had any doubt that this was going to be the easy part. He didn't have the fine chakra sensing ability his sister had, but had fought enough to properly assess the Konoha-nin. After his own evaluation, he ranked somewhere between high chuunin and low jounin in pure strength. Considering the physical strength that would come with age, Kimimaro had no scruples to believe he could graduate with ease. He knew of his own worth, one of the last descendants of the Kaguya clan, made to fight and be feared. The white haired boy had no real feelings towards the Leaf village, but he didn't plan to go betray it either. His sister had taught him to be an honorable man, and he already had experienced too much backstabbing and empty promises in his life that he despised people who sprouted lies after lies without spine. He also knew his sister had begun to love this village smelling of vibrant colored leaves and woods. The psychic-evaluation he needed to undergo as foreign entity would pass him without troubles.

The one variable the prodigy had fully forgotten in his plan however, had been as always the people around him.

The boy who'd been introduced to the graduation class seemingly coming from nowhere was, of course, the center of attention. It certainly didn't help the white haired transfer student was rather good looking, and whispered words were spread of his possible Bloodline Limit. Although Kekkai Genkai users were never officially prized higher than regular shinobi on their physical abnormalities alone, it was not a secret that they had a born advantage to become a powerful shinobi one day. Konoha had been founded by two distinguished Bloodline users after all.

When Kimimaro made no attempt to even try to get along with his classmates, they soon turned on him. He was thoroughly ostracized, his every move in the academy followed by malign glances and jealous whispers.

That kid! Foreigner, you say? He must be a spy!

So what if he has Bloodline Limit? He's a freak, that's all!

He doesn't even have a clan! Nothing like any respected shinobi clan in Konohagakure!

Eww, he uses _bones_? That's so disgusting!

Just leave already you monster! Nobody wants you here!

…Kimimaro didn't really mind. It was nothing compared to the things he'd heard people say whenever he'd protected his sister or fought in general using his Kekkai Genkai. Some villages the two Kaguya descendants had visited were so isolated they had never seen someone with Bloodline Limit before; it certainly took his sister every whit to convince the village people they were not possessed by evil demons.

Not to mention some harsh words thrown by children was certainly an improvement compared to his time with his own clan.

Before he'd met Rengyou, he had only known his purpose as a bloodthirsty killer, standing under the sun only to bring deaths to people his clan deemed unworthy to live. From early on, the clan had recognized the value of Kimimaro as a weapon and kept him in the darkness only to let him out to train or kill now and then. He didn't fear the darkness, he was raised and lulled to sleep by its calmness after all, but now that he had tasted what it meant to live in the light, he had no intention to go back to that gruesome rat hole. He also had a sister who cared and fussed over him, with nothing but adoration and trust in her eyes. The unconditional love the older girl offered was not something the boy had ever experienced or dreamed to be possible before.

So Kimimaro decided to ignore the vicious stares and whispers not wanting to waste his time. He needed time to adjust and train, and it wasn't like he had to stay with these dimwits longer than six months. Getting a job and stable income, wasn't that the only thing that was important to their small family now?

But the real problem Kimimaro had overlooked was not his peers but the teacher himself.

Honda Shouichi, a man in his mid-twenties, had been a chuunin guarding the gates with hopes to make it to jounin one day. This dream however, had been crushed as he sustained an injury in his leg, costing him the necessary movements to attack. Not long after he was released from the hospital, his superior reassigned him to the ninja academy, and that was where he was going to stay until the end of his career.

He was a not really depressed but still bitter man, and if there was one thing he despised more than the nuke-nin who had attacked him, it was the so called _golden boys_ who thought they could get away with everything just because they were born to famous parents or worse, Kekkai Genkai. In his eyes those spoilt brats didn't know what hardship was and how it was like to work every day and night sweating blood. He still had connections to the gate guards, so it didn't take long until he'd heard the troubles Kimimaro had caused the first day at his arrival. The fact that Kimimaro carried a written recommendation to be placed in the graduation class by the Hokage himself certainly did not improve Honda's image of the new boy.

Besides, another prodigious Bloodline Limit user?

Honda vividly remembered the nuke-nin Uchiha Itachi as he cut deep in his leg while effectively using his Sharingan to disable his comrades.

It was not really surprising that Honda Shouichi decided to make Harutori Kimimaro's life as hard as he could. The worst thing was, as a teacher, he had ample opportunity.

First Kimimaro thought that Honda was testing him with orders from the Hokage, to test his loyalty. Then he thought it was a standard shinobi way to evaluate a new face. It didn't take him long to realize that the constant harassment was nothing but simple maliciousness, something so childish the boy had not believed it would be possible. He had no idea how to deal with authority who kept pushing him with tidbits but not letting the animosity truly show in the open. Kimimaro knew he had to endure the ordeal, though, as with the rise of his value as Konoha shinobi, the better his sister would be treated. He couldn't become a shinobi if he couldn't take the test for maiming his teacher. So he gritted his teeth and did everything he was told… which apparently was always wrong in the eyes of the older ninja.

Brat! Have you never thrown a shuriken before? That is not how we do it in Konoha!

Do it this way, you are an foreigner, but that doesn't mean you can keep doing it in your outlandish way!

Stand up right! Don't slump! No, I told you to sit down!

What is this piece of garbage, Harutori? Didn't I tell you to use standard Konoha codes for the assignment? This is too long! This is too short! Why are you using kanji in this? Can't you spare us one minute from your constant bragging? Stop using hiragana on everything! How am I supposed to read this shit?

Kimimaro found out the man was not honestly xenophobe, he had no troubles talking to foreign merchants, but loved to use the 'You are in Konoha, do everything in Konoha-style' excuse to torment his new student. He never told his sister about the man, though. He knew she would either worry or more likely do something about it. Despite of her weak body, his sister was not frightened to speak her mind. From I'm-the-crazy-bitch-around-here to innocent Angel from Heaven, she knew all the right buttons to push. He'd been there when she'd made a grown, wanted yakuza break down in sobs. Twice. If Kimimaro could trust somebody to deal with Honda, Rengyou was definitely high on the list. He didn't want to her to worry, however. This was something he should take care of himself.

Honda made it impossible to use his Kekkai Genkai in classes and forced him to use standard Konoha Taijustu, which the man conveniently forgot to teach him, so Kimimaro resorted to the basics, like kicking and punching. He still came up victorious, his reflexes and strength far surpassing his peers. After he learned the Konoha movements by watching younger students train, he used that to beat up his never learning opponents. He smirked as he saw Honda fuming with anger, but not able to nitpick on anything.

It was still hard, though. Kimimaro had more than once to grab the small pendant for patience he'd taken from his sister's shop to stop himself from lashing out. It gritted on his nerves, and he knew Honda hated him always a little more as he improved. The fierce hatred was running now on both sides.

Then, Honda's leg injury got worse and he was deemed unsuited to teach Taijutsu for a while. That was when he decided the class was going to do a survival game. He labeled it as a field lesson to teach students real war, but when the dead-lasts and the unmotivated weaklings were assigned to Kimimaro's team, everyone knew what this was truly about.

Honda was planning to screw Kimimaro over.

Kimimaro, who was far from dense, of course had noticed it too. He didn't object, though.

He was planning to screw Honda over and make him beg his mother had never given birth to him.

After two hours on the training ground, the boy who'd been assigned to wipe out any Kiri-nin at the age of ten, felt the stress cumulated in his bones leaving. There had been some minor incidents; for example, the time the white haired Kaguya descendant _accidentally_ threw a classmate at Honda's chest making the man's lung nearly collapse, or when Kimimaro made a _mistake_ and cut Honda's hair with a shuriken, or when he somehow _missed_ his opponent and got a good kick on Honda's head instead.

All understandable mistakes, of course.

He was still not accustomed to Konoha Taijutsu after all.

His team who'd been not eager to participate in the first place were already giving him a wide berth, either resting or huddling in fear at the side. Kimimaro didn't even hesitate as he knocked another classmate down flat.

That was how Umino Iruka came across the pile of unconscious students and teacher, Kimimaro standing on top of them like a proud lion.

There was no way in hell Kimimaro was going to explain all this to his worrying sister, though.

"It just happened," he said with a shrug, and added as an afterthought the word he knew his sister would like to hear, "we were having _fun_."

From her raised eyebrow it was fairly obvious the woman did not believe a word. She kept staring at him, but Kimimaro stood his ground. He was a man, dammit, to tell his older sister of his troubles at school seemed too juvenile than he could bear. Said sister was giving him the most lethal eyes of sadness and coercion. How the hell was she making him feel guilt he didn't have one minute ago? Kimimaro decided to blame it on Honda. He felt rather relieved as the other teacher, Iruka came to the siblings and said with a grim expression, "Harutori-kun, with me."

Kimimaro had expected to get scolded and didn't hesitate. What he didn't expect, however, was his sister to intervene.

"It's Parent Meeting, then?"

"Huh? Oh, I think Honda-sensei was just planning to have a word with-"

"Parent Meeting," Ren concluded with a firm nod. Her golden eyes weren't really asking any more than she was pleading. Iruka looked torn for a moment until he slumped his shoulders in resignation. "Sure, why not, Ren-san. I doubt Honda-sensei would object."

Actually Kimimaro was certain Honda would object, fully aware the prejudiced man would do his best to irritate him beyond what was appropriate when left alone just the two of them together. One look at his sister, he knew that she somehow came to the same conclusion and had insisted on a larger meeting with _witnesses_ instead.

The white haired twelve-year-old felt the delicate hand of his sister squeezing his. Honda-jerk was glaring daggers at him behind Iruka's back.

While being dragged back to school, Kimimaro caught how the scarred teacher unconsciously threw glances at the older sibling. The boy narrowed his eyes.

It seemed he had another name for his list-Aneue-shall-never-see.

XXX

It was surprising how many times I could predict my future right. Not that it was a good thing, not now anyways.

I played with the thought of naming the Hokage's desk plant Midori-chan, seeing we were practically acquaintances at this point. Not one month since our last meeting with Konoha's infamous leader, we were finding ourselves in front of the scrutinizing gaze of the old shinobi, again.

How on earth did I manage to do that?

I fought the urge to hide my face behind my hands, although my pink cheeks must have been a dead giveaway. This was so embarrassing. Did we seriously end up in the Hokage's office because of that stupid fight? And there I thought me being there would be enough to wrap it up…How wrong I'd been. Not an hour of having _the talk_ with Honda and we were already dragged into the Hokage's office by some chuunin, heavy charges on our necks.

I gulped and bowed my head deeply, breaking the straining silence.

"It was my fault, Hokage-sama."

"Aneue!" Kimimaro cried out with wide eyes, but I kept my head low barely inches apart from the dogeza-form. I could feel the Hokage's eyes on me. They didn't have the amused warmth in them like the first time we met, which made this situation even harder. Hidden behind the smoke of his pipe, the old shinobi raised an eyebrow the only indicator that he even had listened to my words.

"And how is it, exactly _your_ fault?"

I gulped once more but kept my voice from trembling. I had met with Yakuza heads, noble folks who not always were in my favor and sometimes had nothing more in their mind but to brutalize my body and mind. Street life was hard, dealing with privileged people was harder, especially after shishou left us. We survived though, my brother and I, and this time would be no different. Never mind I had to use all my wit and logic in front of the man called _Professor_ by the most lethal men and women in this world. Well, bugger.

"The disagreement was caused by me, Hokage-sama. There is no doubt I am at fault."

"It wasn't your fist that shattered Honda Shouichi's jaw, Harutori-san." The Hokage said with a deep frown.

… _Shattered_ jaw? Really?

I didn't flinch, but I also didn't dare to take a look at my brother. He would only confirm he'd done it on absolute purpose. Nope, no need to tarnish plausible deniability.

We were at disadvantage already considering Honda Shouichi was still a ranked Konoha-shinobi while we were nothing more but outsiders. I could hear the coldness of the Hokage dripping. Maybe he had heard of the whole incidence, maybe not, but that Kimimaro had punched his superior was something that met distaste with all Konoha-shinobi.

"You do realize what your brother has done was a major offence? This is not Kiri, we do not condone violence within our own. I should incarcerate him for the disobedience alone and I have reports not only from Honda-chuunin to remove Harutori Kimimaro from all shinobi-work."

Kimimaro stiffened next to me, his knuckles white. He was twelve years old, my brother, strong, yes, but still only a child. I raised my head to meet the dark eyes of the old shinobi. His red hat was shadowing his expression, but I already could see his thin line of lips taut with disapproval.

I straightened myself to look him directly in the eyes.

"Hokage-sama, it takes two to come to a fight, to point a finger at one side would be meaningless. Mutiny is to be frowned upon, but so are words against one's parents; reason dictates neither Kimimaro nor Honda-sensei acted within right or wrong. Wise men are said not to cure the aftermath of an illness but to root out the cause, so it is only right to tell you I am the one to blame. Had I not been there, my brother would have never hurt Honda-sensei."

Which was the truth. It didn't take me a long talk with Honda to realize my brother had been the victim of bullying, from a teacher at that. It infuriated me to the core. I didn't even care that the man had called me a dancing girl, waiting to whore myself out at the next convenience, all I remembered was the cold fury inside my belly as I heard the man spouting lies after lies about my brother. Kimimaro wasn't spoilt, up to no good delinquent, who would run away at the first mortal danger leaving his comrades behind. My brother was anything but a coward. That Honda even thought of insinuating such a thing…But still, Kimimaro would have never hit the man so bluntly had I not been involved.

All the more reason why I couldn't let my anger cloud me and rob Kimimaro from the chance to become a formal shinobi.

Honda was right, nobody would side with us and choose us over him. We were foreigners who didn't even have the chance to show our loyalty while the man had been born here to serve. While Konoha had the reputation of being _fair_ , I wasn't naïve enough to believe this situation would count.

Government that ruled with justice crushed crimes and abided by their chosen law, but that didn't mean they would push that justice on every whim. The easiest way to win loyalty was through privileges after all. And nobody would think it as privilege if every person were granted the same leniency as one of their own.

We couldn't pin this sorely on Honda, and I couldn't let Kimimaro take the fall. It only left one option, really.

"I acknowledge full responsibility, Hokage-sama. Please do not punish my brother for a flaw caused by me."

I bowed once more, this time in full dogeza. Kimimaro who stared at me like he wanted to shout or cry, hesitated before following suit his movements stiff with self-hatred. The Hokage kept his silence, only his small exhaling of tobacco audible in the room.

"Do you know why Konoha stays strong, Harutori-kun?" He finally asked my brother and Kimimaro bit his lip before answering.

"…Because of the strong Techniques the Leaf holds secret?"

The Hokage hmmed, taking another deep inhale of his pipe.

"The reason Konohagakure no Sato never fell, lies in its bonds. We do not value a one-man-army, as we are aware such man will not stand a chance against an army that has learned to act in harmony, like they are one shinobi. To work with comrades is the first thing we teach our youngest ninjas, as we rarely send our shinobi alone but in teams to ensure their safety but also effectiveness. Kimimaro-kun, you do not under any circumstances hurt your comrades to the point they lose mobility. Even if they are petty, jealous bullies."

...?

I couldn't help myself but look up at the last remark. The old ninja still had a solemn face, every wrinkle of his face looked like the bark of an ancient tree making him seem harder and unreachable.

The frosty gaze, though, that had grazed on us like sharp wind in winter, was softer and held… mirth? I wasn't sure, so I decided not to read too much in it. Kimimaro, on the other hand, was blushing and nodded in wary understanding. His green eyes were calm like always but I still caught the twitch beneath his left eye, he always had when he was confused and therefore irritated.

The old shinobi took a long intake of his pipe and let out a soft sigh.

"I have heard of the circumstance that lead to this, and have Iruka personally vouch that it was not an argument between two shinobi but children…or in Shouichi's case, acting like one. I also have witnesses who are willing to testify that Shouichi was less than adequate as Kimimaro's teacher, not to mention his intention to sabotage a student's potential by abusing his position. It seems you have made good friends, Kimimaro-kun."

"…Friends?" The startled look on my brother's face was so hilarious it was adorable. He turned to me as if asking what the old man was talking about, but since I had no idea either I just gave him an encouraging grin. Kimimaro immediately scowled.

The Hokage, who hadn't hold back his chuckle, now tilted his head to look at me. I instinctively straightened myself, not wanting to stare at him in a slouch.

"In light of the evidence, I am willing to give Kimimaro-kun another chance." I brightened, but was met with a hard stare, "but keep in mind, you both still are months apart to gain formal citizenship, in Kimimaro's case to join the forces. Consider yourselves as on probation and think before you act. We do not need shinobi who only act on their impulse alone."

"…Hai, Hokage-sama," said my brother giving the older a deep bow. The Hokage seemed to be satisfied with it and with an understanding nod, turned to me. "You were willing to take the blame, Ren-san?"

"Ah…yes, Hokage-sama. I still take full responsibility for my brother's actions. Until he graduates, he is still regarded as my ward, after all."

The Hokage hmmed, stroking his pipe with his fingers in thought.

"You are right. Until your brother becomes genin, you have the legal responsibility to compensate his mistakes," he said and before Kimimaro could object, the man asked with unreadable eyes, "Ren-san, how good are you with your instrument? A shamisen, if I remember correctly?"

I blinked confused but answered regardless.

"H-hai, Hokage-sama. I'm rather skilled in it, to speak frankly, I have played it all my life."

"Ah, good, good," the Hokage nodded apparently satisfied with my answer and I just stared at him in perplexed. But that didn't last, as the old shinobi fished out some papers from the enormous stash decorating his desk and started to write…a recommendation letter? For what?

"The daimyo's wife, Madame Shijimi has been residing in Konoha for years. She is in need of a new music teacher and it is my understanding she favors female musicians. Your punishment, Ren-san, will be to stay her teacher until your brother graduates."

"Oh," I said with wide eyes, my mouth close to gaping, "Oh, but my shop…"

"Give this letter to my cousin, Hiruka. She's the lady-in-waiting and will help you to make arrangements. Since this is meant as punishment you will not be paid by the village, but with luck Madame Shijimi will offer you more than enough compensation. Serve and endure her well, Ren-san. I am counting on you." Completely ignoring my flabbergasted expression, he gave me the recommendation letter I tentatively took. Then, he turned to my brother. "For you Kimimaro-kun, I have a whole school storage that is in dire need of cleaning. Iruka-sensei will supervise, and will personally report to me if there is any trouble. If I hear you slacking off your detention…"

"I won't," Kimimaro answered indignantly, as if he could not believe the Hokage would actually suggest him to be lazy. My little brother was anything but.

The Hokage gave us further instructions, which I have to admit I listened only with half an ear. After fifteen minutes of additional warnings and information, he dismissed us, to do the paper work he seemed to have in plenty. We bowed and left, walking to our home in silence.

"…So thoughts?" I asked my brother as we reached the front gate of our house. Kimimaro had kept his face blank, making it efficiently difficult to read. He looked up and met my eyes with his green.

"You are going to teach a noble snob how to pluck on your wood thing while I play the janitor of the academy," was the deadpan answer, which made me cry out with a mock-pout.

"It's called a shamisen, not a wood thing! Besides it's wrong to judge a person by their title," I chided and my dearest brother had the galls to roll his eyes. …And I had the bad feeling he wouldn't be wrong to do that. Wait, why did the Hokage say 'serve and _endure_ '?

Not noticing my inner dread, Kimimaro snorted while holding the house door open for me. "At least you will get paid."

"Only if Madame Shijimi accepts me as teacher, remember?"

"As if she would refuse you."

I grinned, fully aware Kimimaro hadn't meant it as flattery but mere statement of facts. Made the compliment even better though.

As we walked into our living room, an invisible weight seemed to have been lifted from my brother's shoulders. Then I remembered something the old village leader had said.

"Hokage-sama said you have _friends_. Anything you want to tell me, otouto?"

Kimimaro merely raised an eyebrow as if saying 'are you stupid?', but I grinned even wider.

"Is there a female-friend-friend-not-girlfriend-yet involved?"

"…What? No!" he scoffed offended, but I didn't falter.

"But you will tell me if there is, right? I mean I still have the Birds and Bees cards somewhere -"

"Aneue, NO!"

Utterly terrified and embarrassed Kimimaro let out a freaked out sneer and ran to his room. I giggled loudly at the bang of his door closing because I was horrible and when I finally managed to suppress my brother's flustered face in my mind, I let out a content sigh.

One big danger averted it seemed. For one moment, I really had thought the Hokage would take advantage of the situation and throw us in jail, make us participate in experiments for our blood and bones. Obviously the Sandaime was kinder and more just than I thought a shinobi leader would be.

And the thought of Kimimaro with friends… I liked that a lot. The prospect of teaching someone to play the shamisen wasn't so bad either.

At the end, I was pretty sure everything would turn out to be alright.

…That, of course, was the one-time my fortune telling bones failed me terribly. But I wasn't to know that, so I grabbed my shamisen next to my bed and played songs shishou had loved to listen.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

* * *

 **A/N:** Suggestion; Open Youtube and search for Spirited Away Itsumo Nando Demo (or always yours). It'll help to understand what song Ren is playing.

* * *

Harutori Rengyou was anything but a quitter. I had out drunken a whole yakuza squad to win a baby monkey, I'd rowed across the sea to visit temples, I had plucked 15 acres of strawberries on one night, and I had taught Kimimaro about Birds and Bees even after he ran away covering his ears. I was not a quitter. I wasn't.

Oh, but I wanted to.

"Shijimi-sama, you need to use your wrist and not scrape the strings with the bachi," I said correcting the woman's hand once more. Madame Shijimi, my current employee and student, had the rare gift of being not only tone-deaf but having two left hands as well. It didn't help she actually had wanted to learn to play the koto, but thought she should start with the shamisen as it had only three strings compared to koto's thirteen. I was so exasperated I didn't even feel insulted.

Another careless bachi-flick and my ears bled from another plumbing sound.

One look at her pouting lips, though, I knew she was short of throwing a temper tantrum so I quickly moved to lead her.

With my hand practically doing everything, she finally managed to play the first part of _Sakura Sakura_. I even sang to it to cover the mind breaking screech I never knew shamisen was capable of making.

" _Sakura Sakura,_

 _the fields, mountains and villages,_

 _as far as can be seen,_

 _are covered in a pink haze or clouds,_

 _shining beautifully under morning light-_ "

"Stop," the Madame said as we proceeded to make it to the next page and I halted looking up in question. Sweat drop formed behind my neck, a day had been enough to realize the woman was one of the most capricious people I'd ever seen. She sniffed and shook her hand in irritation.

"Bring me some water, Satsuki."

The nyobo, a maid the Madame seemed to have brought from the palace, bowed deeply before stepping back to the corridor. "Hai, Shijimi-sama."

Madame Shijimi opened her luxurious fan for a fresh breeze, while I gently placed the discarded instrument to its wooden box. Since the mistress didn't object, I guessed this was the end of our lesson for today.

Maybe she wanted to go pat her cat, Tora? Or have a tea with Hiruka-sama, perhaps?

I certainly didn't expect her to speak to me, with a slight whine in her voice. "This is boring. _Sakura Sakura_ is boring. We keep doing nothing else. What other songs can you play?"

"…What kind of song do you have in mind?" I asked carefully, not wanting to offend the woman. I was lucky she didn't mind me correcting her mistakes in the first place, so I tried my best to keep an amiable, in her case tolerable, relationship. …Gods, had it really been only one month?

 _Serve and_ endure _her well, Ren-san_ , the Hokage had said and I realized he'd meant it, every word.

Madame Shijimi seemed to ponder about what song she wanted to hear, then she hesitated for a moment glaring at my face. I hid my utterly perplexed expression and did my best to send friendly, harmless vibes.

Apparently that worked, because she didn't take long before graciously deciding, "Love songs."

…Not what I had expected. I blinked a few times.

"Love songs, Madame?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?" With the clipped tone she used I'd better not have any problems. I bowed once, and let a fake smile grace my nervous face. "Of course not, Madame. But I'm afraid even love songs have a genre. Do you have a specific song in mind?"

She gave me a frown and shook her head. It wasn't really surprising, as most love songs were considered too vulgar for the High Court. Women of high birth were usually raised like sheltered birds, only leaving their respected houses to marry their husbands. Madame Shijimi's decision to settle in Konoha must have been rather unorthodox, probably only granted because of the political machinations unfolding at the capital.

Either way, I was on my own. I tried to choose a song that'd be acceptable to her taste, only I never had bothered much to learn _love_ songs… So I decided for a song I'd picked up in Yu no Kuni, the Land of Hot Springs.

" _Somewhere, a voice calls, in the depth of my soul_

 _I always want to dream, the dreams that move my heart_

 _So many tears of despair, uncountable through and through_

 _But I know on the other side of them, I'll be sure to meet you_

 _Every time we fall down to the ground we look up to the sky above_

 _We wake to it's blue, as if for the first time_

 _Though the road is long, the end far away_

 _With these hands I can embrace the light_

 _As I bid farewell my heart falls silent_

 _And my empty soul begins to listen_

 _The wonder of living, the wonder of dying_

 _The flower, the wind, the city; all connected, the one and same…_ "

When I finished, I looked up to see the mistress closing her eyes. I gulped, not really knowing what to do. Didn't she like it? Was this not cheesy enough? It wasn't really a _love_ song after all… I rubbed my bachi with my thumb and slowly opened my lips. "Shijimi-sama?"

"Did I tell you to stop playing?"

The Madame let me to sing it over and over again.

XXX

Kimimaro scowled as he closed his sister's bedroom. "She's not here." The strain in voice was rather evident, and surprised his two companions.

"How troublesome," mumbled Nara Shikao, stifling a wide yawn. Kimimaro gave the boy a death glare, which was promptly ignored. The nephew of the Jounin Commander had curly hair tied to a pony tail as it was custom for Nara men. He also wore his clan emblem on his back, and was known to have reached a whole new level of the nefarious Nara-laziness. The only reason the boy was present at all was because Inuzuka Hana had one of her dogs bite him in the ass. Repeatedly.

"Just write her a note, _Hakkotsu_ ," the first born of the Inuzuka clan head said impatiently, albeit in a gentle tone. Despite her cold attitude she'd been the one who had followed the _White Bones_ without fuss to his home, and didn't even call him a sissy boy for his need to check on his sister. If there was anyone who understood pack-protectiveness, it was definitely an Inuzuka after all.

She'd been also the one who actually dared to tell the Hokage what really happened with Honda Shouichi and the new transfer.

Born and raised in a closely knitted pack, Hana had a fierce dislike towards those who _tainted_ the pack structure. She hadn't really minded Honda's attempts to win authority over Kimimaro; in fact, she even encouraged it, as every new member needed to find their place to fit in. However, when Honda still tried to gain the overhand when it was obvious he'd lost, and when his actions actually bordered on the line of simple bullying, that was when Hana drew the line.

Hana stood there when Kimimaro managed to beat his challengers one by one to the ground and when Honda screamed that he would make the white haired boy pay; the Inuzuka snagged the fake-napping Shikao's collar and went straight to the Hokage. She gave him a detailed oral report about the incident and when she 'convinced' Shikao to stand on his own feet, the genius boy even managed to get a new teacher assigned to their class.

Since then, one of the weirdest near-friendships was formed between Hana, Shikao and Kimimaro. It wasn't a real friendship yet, as Kimimaro vehemently denied active participation, Hana didn't care and Shikao preferred sleeping to staying with the other two. It was close enough, though.

"Come on, the school training ground closes at ten. I'm sure she'll be back by then."

Kimimaro gave Hana a frown but then nodded as an acknowledgement of her logic. Shikao was trying to move away from Hana's biting nin-dogs, at the same time he tried to find a place on the stairs to take a nap.

He let out a loud whine as one of the Haimaru Brothers nipped his ankle. "Why do you want _me_ there? I am a shadow-user, I'm useless at nights."

"Isn't it obvious? She wants to give your bones for her dogs to nibble, you freaking snail," hissed Kimimaro in disgust, still unable to believe how lazy the other boy could be.

Who in their right mind slept eighteen hours a day uninterrupted? Just because they could?

He'd seen it himself and he still couldn't believe Shikao had tricked him to let him sleep and count the hours _and_ took his money from the bet they had made prior. Aneue had loved the story as he ranted in anger and forced him invite this sloth with frizzy hair and the dog girl to dinner.

The unworthy snail had the audacity to stay the night because he was too lazy to go home after the meal.

Just thinking about that day put Kimimaro in murderous mood and made him want to throttle the other boy. Noticing her new comrade's distress, Hana sighed in exasperation and kicked the now snoring boy in the liver. When Shikao yelped she grabbed his ponytail to yank, hard.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, what is your problem, woman?!"

"Oh shut up. You can't fool me with the 'nights are the bane of my power'-bullshit. My Okaa-san already told me the basics of the Shadow Jutsu. One flicker of light and the entire darkness is at your disposal, right?"

 _…_ _Now that would be interesting_ , thought Kimimaro flickering a glance at the boy in slumped form, _is it true?_

Shikao gave his two friends a crinkled nose like someone had forced him to smell rotten eggs. "That would take enormous amount of power and I'm just a meagre branch member. And I'm aiming for R&D. _And_ I'm a diehard pacifist."

"…A pacifist? Are you kidding me? Why are you in the Ninja Academy then? Isn't that rather paradoxical?" asked Kimimaro half interested, half annoyed to hell.

Shikao gave an infuriating, curt shrug. "It's a Catch-22. You know, the rule that says once you become a nuke-nin, you are required to be medically insane to be erased off the Bingo-book, but when you ask to have the evaluation done you are sentient enough to make your own decisions and therefore not crazy? The same situation happening here. I wanna be a researcher and have a consistent hour to get off work, but to be a researcher in a military village you need to become a shinobi first and complete missions, which are as volatile with the working hours as they get. It's blatant abuse, really, a heart-breaking tragedy," he finished with a morose sigh, not noticing the twitch that was building on Kimimaro's forehead.

Hana decided they had to leave before Bones decided to smear his house walls with the Nara's intestines.

In the hectic of trying not to kill each other, or in Shikao's case die by the other's hands, Kimimaro forgot to leave a note to his sister.

A bad idea, but one the newly assembled trio hadn't noticed yet.

XXX

It was nearly midnight when I finally made it back home. Madame Shijimi had enjoyed my playing it seemed, as she abruptly decided that I had to play for one of her tea parties. It was a great honor really, had I been of noble blood it could have even counted as my social debut to higher circles, the Madame as my patron. Of course, with my status as commoner it meant nothing more but pure entertainment…and a lot of extra work on my part. Shijimi-sama's nyobo, Satsuki-san made it clear she expected me to have at least acceptable social etiquette. She made it sound like I needed to be potty-trained. Well, bugger.

At this rate I would never find time to sit in my humble shop just watching the dust sparkle like small grains of golden sand under sunlight. Since I was rather paid well by the daimyo's wife, I could afford a part timer to watch over my shop. But still, it wasn't the same and I missed the calming silence. And the time I could spend with my brother.

"Kimimaro, are you sleeping?" I asked in a whisper, not wanting to wake him up. I opened the door to his room, but he wasn't there. In fact, I couldn't feel his presence at the whole house.

Where was he? It wasn't like him to stay outside for so long. Kimimaro had always been a morning person and liked to sleep early and wake up before the sun began to rise. At the rare times he didn't come home because he was working on a new technique, he always left a note. But after checking the fridge I'd noticed he didn't even have dinner. So he didn't come home right after school…and hadn't been here for hours.

Surely, nothing could have happened to him, right?

I immediately grabbed my haori and strapped on my shoes. I remembered my shishou kissing the crown of my head at that night, telling me he loved me, that he was sorry before he…no, no, NO. Kimimaro wouldn't just disappear like that. My brother wouldn't. That wasn't his style.

I knew I was overreacting and tried to calm myself, but I had spent five hours singing songs and trying not to grate the daimyo's wife's nerves, and Gods, how many times had I seen small children disappear to never come back at the streets?

"Ren you are being silly, Kimimaro's really strong, remember?" I told myself as I kept consciously stopping my legs from running. Kimimaro would surely laugh at me, calling me his mother-hen of a sister and let me hug him even though he would roll his eyes to save his dignity. But another part in my brain whispered that the academy was long over and he hadn't come to pick me up when I was getting late. And the school training grounds closed at nine, didn't they? Other training grounds were for ranked shinobi only, so I knew Kimimaro wouldn't go there.

Konoha was supposed to be safe. Safer to any other towns we'd ever been. I knew that, I truly did, but did its safety extend even to foreigners like us?

Don't be stupid, Kimimaro can take care of himself, said one voice.

 _Kimaro is twelve,_ hissed another.

He is a strong Kekkai Genkai user.

 _With no clan to protect or revenge him._

The perfect target for Bloodline theft.

…I didn't care if I was overreacting I was going to scold the boy for making me worry.

I hesitated as I reached the main road and made up my mind to try the school grounds regardless. Maybe my brother had found out a way to sneak in or just forgot time training?

Evil things were whirling inside my mind; street life had taught me long ago tragedy could happen to everyone. Whether the rich, the poor, the old or young, evil wasn't one to discriminate.

I had just reached the Ninja Academy, then I felt it. A small flutter of chakra. Just behind the front building. Not bothering to look around I followed the chakra flare and opened the door to a classroom.

"Maro-kun!? Is that you…?"

Only it wasn't him.

"Now what do we have here?" A woman, dark long hair tied with a purple ribbon, purred.

The coquette smile on her face becoming even wider as I instinctively took a step back. Her dark eyes were glistening with malice; I could practically taste it. She wore no Konoha Hitai-ate, and her chakra was covered with seal work. Good lord, what in seven hells had I just stepped into?

I swallowed, darting eyes to the third person in the room. "Mi-mizuki-sensei," I managed to whisper. The pale haired man looked so surprised at my sudden appearance, and seemed to be in shock. My mind raced, connecting the dots. The conclusion was nothing I'd have liked.

"I-I'm sorry to interrupt," I forced out of my throat, acting as if I hadn't felt the woman pulling out a sharp tool -a senbon?- and ninja strings. I knew I had to talk fast. Thoughts were whirling inside my brain. "I won't tell anything to…to Tsubaki-san, I swear." I said and now Mizuki, who must have noticed the killer intent of the other woman and did _nothing_ to stop her, looked puzzled at the name of his fiance.

"...Tsubaki? What of her?" He asked slowly as if assessing the situation.

"Really, Mizuki-sensei." I gave him a disapproving frown with my hands firmly on my hips, trying to stop them from trembling. "It's none of my business, and as I said, I'm not a tattle-tale, but you should cherish your wife-to-be a little more. She's such a sweet woman and deserves a good man. She even bought some protection charms for you, you know, although she knows you don't believe in them...", my voice grew steadier every moment and I didn't hesitate to look him directly in the eyes. He stared at me right back intently, trying to find something I resisted with all my will to give away.

Finally, his narrowed gaze relaxed and he let out a low chuckle. He even had the audacity to look sheepish. "Ah, I can see how this would look very suspicious to you, Ren-san. But don't worry, I'm very faithful to Tsubaki and there's no need for misunderstanding. This one," he pointed at the woman who simply raised an eyebrow, "is just a comrade. We met up to discuss ninja-business, you see."

"…Oh," I said forming my lips to a round O-shape, which I knew would make me look like an innocent, brainless civilian-girl, and succeeded to blush furiously. "Oh, oh, I'm so sorry, Mizuki-sensei, I thought, well, you probably know what I thought which I shouldn't have, of course...Oh, this is so embarrassing..."

"No harm done, Ren-san. But next time give me at least the chance of doubt, yes?" The man smiled charmingly. My chakra senses were screaming, _LIES, LIES, LIES Oh Gods Mizuki is a traitor._

I gave him a shy smile back. "I have learned my lesson, sensei. By the way, have you seen my brother? He said he wanted to train more and told me he would come here with his friends..." I trailed off deliberately, and noticed the small of irritated frown on Mizuki's face. He smoothed it out soon enough though, and I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking. Mizuki put up his fake smile again. "I'm afraid not. And Kimimaro-kun should know better than coming to the training grounds after closing hour."

"He just loves to train, that's all," I said trying to sound defensive, reacting to his chiding tone. I wondered if I could spring out of the window but figured I had no chance to escape two fully trained shinobi.

"…Yes, everyone wants to become stronger don't they?" The pale haired man mumbled. I didn't like the darkness that overshadowed his eyes at those words. Not at all. The greed and desire that poured out of him was suffocating. I knew he wouldn't keep his façade for long. _This is my chance_ , I thought wildly while keeping a straight face, _now or never_. _Keep calm, deep breath…_

"Well, I should go. Kimimaro must arrive anytime now, and I probably should leave you to your jobs," I said and gave the two ninja a polite bow. Something cold crawled up my spine as I felt their gaze at me. I begged to Gods above to make them believe me. _Believe me, believe me and let me go…_

I gave them a last smile and turned around. I was about to leave the classroom as Mizuki's voice held me back. "Ah, Ren-san?"

I stopped, my heart pumping so loudly I was _sure_ they must have heard me, and sweat prickled on my palms. My throat felt sore with the tension and I felt sick. _Turn around Ren!_ My mind yelled at the panicking me, _turn around dammit!_

"Yes, sensei?"

When I turned and looked up, Mizuki was standing right behind me. I could feel his breath on my skin- "Don't tell anyone about this, please," the man whispered sending me a shiver all over my body, "it's a secret mission and I don't want anyone else to come to your unfortunate… misunderstanding."

"…Oh, I understand, Mizuki-sensei. I-I can keep secrets," My eye innocently wide, I gestured my lips closed like a zipper with my fingers, Mizuki gave me a patient grin. "Uhm, have a good night, sensei."

"You too, Ren-san." He answered and let me leave.

 _Gods, Gods, he let me leave, Gods…_

I counted every step every breath, my spine tense but still I was breathing. I stepped over the door frame and my mind whirled with thoughts - What now? What now? What should I do?

Go to straight to the Hokage? But it was so late, was he even in the tower? And wouldn't Mizuki or the woman keep an eye on me? Good lord, where was Kimimaro – they hadn't seen him had they? Were they going to come after him, too? I needed a plan, I needed to think fast, my feet were close to running, but I wanted to get out of here, I needed to keep calm, I needed to tell–

Then, I heard it.

The sharp whistle of cutting wind.

And the crushing of flesh and bones.

"…What the- WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT, KIN?!"

I stared, not really hearing Mizuki's yelling, wide-eyed at my stomach. _Senbon_ , I thought in panic, Senbon were sticking out of my body. A dark red stain spread over my yellow kimono. The golden bells soaking in blood…

Nausea and pain swallowed my mind. I fell, hard.

"This bitch saw us, you twat, of course I had to kill her." said the purring voice of the woman. My blurry eyes stared at her as she gave me a wide smirk. _She's happy_ , I thought, _she's happy I'm dying…I'm dying…_

"She's an ignorant civilian who is a fucking _fortune-teller_! A foreign one at that! Nobody was going to believe her anyways! Besides, I had plans to use her for Orochimaru-sama's plans..."

"Ha, don't even try to fuck with me, you loser. I know you just wanted to get into her pants-„

"Shut up! This one's brother is a bloodline limit user one of the Kaguya clan. And you know how Orochimaru-sama loves to experiment on freaks like them..." I heard Mizuki furiously whisper. I tried to crawl away, pain surging with every move. Oh Gods, help me…

"…Che, she's a pretty little thing for such a monster." The woman was saying, and yanked my braid hard. "AH!" I screamed, feeling the warmth leaving my body in terrifying speed. She brutally kicked me on the sides, until something cricked and my lungs were collapsing. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think, blood in mouth and everywhere, oh Gods I was going to die –

"Not so pretty now huh you slut?"

I must have lost consciousness in between; when I came back to myself, I heard a wet, squishing sound as a senbon was forced out of my body – and then the woman stabbed me more, repeatedly. Blood gurgled out every opening of my body and I felt my mind slipping. I couldn't even feel the assault stopping, everything was burning and aching so much and I wanted to go home…Oh…

"Maybe I should skin your face and pop those eyes out…"

"Stop it already! Shit, didn't she say her brother was coming here? We need to hide her body."

My body convulsed violently as they hauled me outside. I couldn't move, my head hurt so badly, more bones cracking as somebody dumped me to the ground. I wasn't breathing, was I? Was I already dead?

"Quick, let's bury her beneath the tree. I'll come back tomorrow with a corpse scroll. Orochimaru-sama will appreciate the gift..."

I wanted to scream. I wanted to fight, to make them hurt but I was losing consciousness so rapidly, and felt every dirt they piled on top of me, lying in the hole they dug for my body. The smell of sand and stone on my face, the blood, the cold pain-

 _Gods, this is my grave_ , I thought before entirely blacking out, Gods this is my grave…

Then, nothing.


End file.
